Well.........there never seems to be a dull moment in the Spencer house!First off, we are sick! It started with Michael, then came me, Amber, Jason, and finally Alyssa, but not so bad. Today I just sound sick, yesterday I sounded like a man lol.

I started laundry yesterday (Saturday), and have one load sitting in the dryer left to be folded plus the last load sitting in the washer waiting to go into the dryer! All together I had at least 10 loads? I think I lost count! The bigger your family the more laundry! Finally got my kitchen floor mopped, and almost every room in the house is perfect....almost.

Anyway, my day was filled with sitting at home writing Deb back and forth. No, I didn't go to church today, neither did the rest of us, no since in spreading it around. I am on the computer quite a few times but you should see me move! It's actually quite funny because I am up and down a lot! Between cleaning, kids, and emailing, reading, working on the computer etc..........It's like being A Pogo Stick! Hehehehe.........remember those?? lol

Well, later I decided I would list a couple of things on ebay.......not!I set everything up and my little Alyssa wanted to be mommies helper, so I let her. SO, here comes the OH DREAR part!!! She took a picture and accidentally dropped my camera! She has taken many, many pix before this. Well.....now my camera flash is not working properly so now I am stuck! I bought my template subscription, updated my turbo lister, created an image link to my ebay page so people out there in blog land can go shopping, and I was ready to list tonight! Inventory is going nowhere! Hopefully Jason can fix it?? I have tried! And here I was ready to begin my little on the side business.

I'm telling you......never a dull moment! If you only knew more =p

Oh.......to top it off, Jenn tells me something is wrong with my blog page but I can't see it!!! OH MAN!

Okay, I have been working with Michael to say "ma ma". Well.....Jason has been working on him saying "Da Da"! I'm telling you it sounded like he has said ma ma a of couple times!

HOWEVER, Jason is getting ready for work right now and Michael just said Da Da as CLEAR AS A BRIGHT SUNNY DAY!!! Mouths opened wide everywhere, and Jason died laughing at me (he knew that he had won!) then turned to Michael and said "How can I resist not picking up now?!"

He was wanting to be picked up!

I can't believe it!!!!!!! It's NOT FAIR I tell ya!Okay maybe it's fair since the other two said ma ma first!

I should be more impressed that he even said it period, only, the other two did this early as well.

I can't believe it. My little boy is about to turn 5 months old on the 28th, and has out grown his stage 2 diapers. I will be taking him to the doctor soon for his check-up. Then I will know exactly what his weight is. I will guess for now by saying 16 pounds (keeping in mind he weighed 9 lbs at birth). He's just a big boy, but I am told that boys are bigger. Also, if you know Jason, and his brothers, there are no short men. We are talking the land of the Foot Ball playing giants here LOL.

Anyway..... A couple weeks ago I gave him some Gerber Rice cereal in the loose form mixed with my milk. I was going to wait until he was 6 months, but after talking to my doctor he said if he didn't seem satisfied, I could start him at 4 months. I had to do the exactsame thing with Alyssa.

Well......he had cereal for a week or two. He loved it, and opened his mouth wide, eagerly awaited more, and grabbed the spoon to feed himself. Shortly after this, he completely lost interest. I would go to feed it to him, and he would just look at me, then turn his head, so I stopped giving it to him. He's been fine since. I guess he was just going through a growth spurt. Actually, I pretty sure of it, he was waking to nurse every 1 to 1 1/2 hours through the night. Now he is back to ever 2 to 3 hours. Alyssa was sleeping through the night at 4 months!

I can't wait until he's sleeping through the night! The days that are so tiring, long, and just plain exhausted sometimes, it makes you feel like all the hard work babies are will never end. Then, you look down at them, and their cute little faces, and see how fast they are growing, and suddenly you want them to stay like that forever. Everyone always asks themselves the question of "Where did the time go".

I think I know what happens. We are SOOO busy taking care of them, working, and doing daily tasks (life), that time just flies by. I imagine it would be slow if we took more time to stare at them, and watch them grow. But if you are like me, and have a house to manage, 4 extra people beside yourself to take care of then you know all too well what I am saying! You also know it's really hard to slow down.

I still don't know how I get everything done. Okay, sometimes not every thing gets completely done. Actually, I am having a hard time establishing new routines. Like....when to grocery shop, best day to do laundry, cleaning etc......all in between part time homeschooling! Plus I still need to fix the changing table, weed some things out & get my stuff pictured, and listed on eaby, reorganize the kids room! Yep, 3 kids in one room......yes, I need more room.....sigh.....I fear my list isn't going to end!

I had developed a really good routine in FL. This was the help of Jason's mom teaching me though! Monday's I did laundry, Tuesday's Bathrooms, W- dust, clean, etc., Th- grocery shop, Friday pick up the house. I can't have this same schedule here though. So, I don't know what to do! I sometimes get paralyzed with the details, and feel overwhelmed because I am a perfectionist. guess I just needed to get all that off my chest. lol

Anyway, here are some pix of Michael & his Bumbo. I found one at a children's resale shop for only $20, when I showed it to Jason he said "oh they stole my idea". However, he didn't want to buy it! I told him how much they cost at the full price. Well...a couple weeks went by, we were in Burlington, and Amber picked one up to show us. Jason sat Michael in it, and this time he "just had to get it". So, we ended up paying $39 instead of $20 ;p Maybe next time he will listen to me?

Sunday lunch/dinner is something I have always struggled with getting on the table! Everyone, especially Jason wants a hot meal after we come home from church. Well, I have tried everything.....or so I thought! Nothing ever seemed to work. Sometimes we ate out, and I would think...."If only we could afford this every Sunday." So, I believe it was when I was walking with a friend of mine that I finally realized that I could cook my Pot Roast over night in the crock pot.

I guess I used to think I would burn the house down in the middle of the night so I never did it. Well, I decided to try it, I even decided to try Lipton Soup Mix as appose to my usual seasonings, which are really good too! The biggest problem was affording the meat for this meal. Jason went shopping one night for me, and came back from Costco with a package of three Pork Sirloin Tip Roasts. They vary in weight, and since it is such a good deal I recently bought a package of three for $11.36.....not bad at all!

So, at night I fill my crock pot with water, the seasoning, potatoes, and a few carrots, oh....and the Roast of course. I let it cook on slow over night until we come home from church when I then turn it to warm where I let it sit the rest of the day. When night comes there is enough for a light meal. In theory, I could put it all together when I get up in the morning. However, I have tried this, and I would either forget or get so busy getting me, and the kids ready I don't have time. Plus, you know when you have children, church starts the night before with picking out what everyone is going to where in the morning followed by laying it out. Then when morning comes we are not searching for things and staring at the closet with the deer & head lights look ;p

It works out perfectly! And the best part is I don't have to come home and cook! It's yummy, tender, juicy, and filling! Our once a week gourmet meal! Well, now I'm off to prepare tomorrow's Pot Roast!

Well.....where do I even start with this one! LOLOur kitchen faucet has started a leak a day or two ago so I knew I would be needing to call maintenance to come fix it. The leak is one of those dripping sounds that is not too bad, but enough to annoy if you don't get it fixed soon.

Well.....I get up this morning at 6am (before the hubby, and kiddos), go down stairs start coffee, and my breakfast. The leak has gone from a drip, drip, drip, to a light flowing stream. There is nothing that can be done about it this morning, gotta get everyone ready for Sunday school, and church. I thought we would call to put in the order to have it fixed for tomorrow.....hopefully.

So, we get home from church, it's sometime after 12ish, and it's still flowing obviously. I guess I thought it would fix it's self while we were gone......not really, but it was a nice thought.

It's the hot water side that is leaking. This was the same side we had to have fixed in the upstairs bathroom. So, while I am making the rice to complete our Sunday lunch which is "Pot Roast Sunday" every Sunday. It's the best thing to do on Sunday's (I think I will blog about it) Jason, my hubby, Mr. Fix it, began looking at it. Next thing I know I hear the sound of gushing water, it looked like it was gushing from a hydrant. Suddenly it was raining in the kitchen!

I laughed and ran for the..........can you guess? No, not towels, nope not even the phone to call maintenance, I ran for the Camera! This one was way too good to pass up! Everything was getting wet...except my meal, which was in the Crockpot.....shew!

Jason worked fast as he could to stop it but it was coming fast! Mean while I am laughing as hard as I can at my plumber boy LOL!!! He was able to stop it once he got "a hold" on things LOL.

I am proud, he not only stopped the water gushing mini hydrant explosion, but he FIXED the leak! No more drip, drip, drip! When he was done, he turned, looked at me, and gave a big smile drenched from head to toe.

Jason is back to work at the Seminary, and I start teaching Amber on Monday morning. I am excited to begin our own little curriculum for History, and Science. Monday morning we will start at 8 am. We will begin with Bible then we will move on to Typing, Spanish, History, and finish with Science.

This will allow me to get my feet wet to homeschool both girls next year. I am currently in the process of reorganizing, and getting ready to begin this semester. I plan to establish new routines with the girls, and this will be especially great to carry into the next school year. I am sure I will have to teak some of the routines etc for the next school year, but I am going to love not driving as much along with giving Michael an uninterrupted nap time was well! Poor little guy, he is at the mercy of my crazy schedule when school back in next week for Amber, and Alyssa. It seems like I live in the car sometimes.

I have a prayer request for a long time friend of mine who is more like a sister. Her name is Debbie. I met her in high school, this year will make 20 years we have been friends! Even her parents are mom and dad to me! Deb and I go way back, we have shared so many things together, and have been there for each other through the years. She flew to FL to be at my graduation, and She even flew to FL to be in my wedding when I married the love of my life! She and her hubby, Nick married 7 months after we did.

Right now she is going through a very hard time. She and her husband Nick found out they were pregnant with their first child a few months ago. Shortly after finding out their exciting news, she had a miscarriage. It hurt deeply, there was a great deal of sadness, and loss!

After following her doctors orders, and taking care of herself, they were ready to try again, so, a few weeks ago they found out they were pregnant again! We were all excited, but of course, she & hubby were on cloud nine! Well......Deb, and I email back & forth just about everyday. We talk about all kinds of stuff, and I enjoy sharing in her first trimester from feeling sick, to feeling tired, and those wonderful cravings. We encourage and lift each other up in everything.

I think about her everyday, and I pray for her all the time! I was asking my hubby today if we could plan to drive to IL, it's about a 15 hour drive from Fort Worth TX were we are. I want to visit them, and the baby due in July. If not, then I would try to fly up there alone, especially since I haven't seen her since 2003 0r 2004?.......anyway, as I was talking this over with my hubby, I sit down to check our email.......... well, I got a new email today from Debbie saying this:

"Well, I guess this one isn't going to stick after all. I started spotting yesterday, and when the doctor sent me for an ultrasound there was no heartbeat. I am going to the hospital this afternoon for a D&C, she thinks it will be too hard for me to pass everything naturally and I will risk hemorraging and ending up in emergency surgery anyway. And this way, they can do chromosome testing on the tissue to try and see what went wrong. Based on the size of the baby, they think the heart stopped beating sometime in the last week or two."

This is pretty much what happened the last time!

So, my dear friends, I am asking you all to PLEASE PRAY for Debbie & Nick! Add them to your prayer list at home, and at church......Please pray that the doctors will find out what went wrong, and that God will bring comfort to their broken hearts! This is a very tough time for them right now with the loss of their second baby. I know some of you will pray, and some of you will be on your knees in prayer, so, I am coming to all my friends asking you to please pray for them while they mourn the loss of their 11 week old baby, and that in God's perfect timing they will be able to conceive another baby that will grow full term.

I look at my three children, and my heart breaks that much more for her!!! I can not imagine what it's like to loose a baby. I have not personally experienced a miscarriage before, but I am feeling the loss of my little nephew or niece! Deb and I were certain it was a boy. I am filled with tears!

So, in closing, I will love and appreciate all your prayers! I guarantee Deb, and Nick will appreciate your prayers even more!

I'm back.......sort of.Jason, Amber, and Alyssa do not start school till next week so we have been enjoying our time together. Jason and I started a new work out program this week as well. This one involves more movements than just my regular walking routine.

I woke up this morning feeling sore. Apparently I am out of shape, and I am sore in places I didn't know I have, not to mention the new weight scale I bought today told me I tacked on a few extra pounds from the holidays! I thought I had, but I wasn't sure. I am disciplined with working out, but not with eating food! What am I to do?!?!?

We took before pictures of each other with showing our front, side, and behind view. This way, we can go back and see the results we will have made. I could just cry...I have never looked like this. I know I just had my third baby, but I just feel unhealthy. I am sure my weight is contributing to my feet hurting, and my knees! The pictures are an eye opener though, sigh........I think I would go to weight watchers for help, and support, but right now I don't think I can afford it. I can probably find some recipes online though.

Another thing Jason told me was that when you are stressed your body will store fat. Then he reminded me how from July, up to now, I have been under an extreme amount of stress, this is very true, you know how hard it is to have your own mother go over a year, and refuse to talk to you, and because she doesn't like you! ARGH.....I tend to bottle things up etc.......not healthy!

I will say my stress level is getting better, but for a few months it was pretty bad, especially with Jason's job situations, and a laundry list of other things including my in-laws were right when they told us......."Having a third baby changes EVERYTHING, and it's totally different than just having the two." Dear God, I had no idea how right they were!

Lord bless them for trying to help us, and prepare us for this roller coaster ride!!! Sometimes I want to sit, and just cry because I am sooo tired, but I don't have time! My work is never done! Maybe this summer I will have time for a mini nervous breakdown....but I doubt it LOL ;p Anyone remember what a nap is!?I don't!

I know I need to relax, and give more to God, but you all know what a control freak I can be ;p